Cullowhee, N.C. – Trailing 1-0 entering the home half of the fifth inning, Western Carolina softball used an eight-run rally, including a grand slam home run from junior Maya McPherson to rally past Penn 8-2 in Sunday afternoon's Catamount Classic finale at the Catamount Softball Complex.
McPherson led the Catamounts with a pair of hits, including her grand slam, her fifth big fly of the season. Junior Lily Bell, seniors Taylor Waitley and Tate Stewman, along with sophomore Courtney Marks, each got in the hit column on Sunday. Marks and Bell both extended to a season-best for WCU's seven-game hit streak. Drawing a walk in the victory, junior Becka Wonsick has now reached base safely in 11 straight contests.
McPherson caps an eye-popping weekend, batting .643 (9-for-14) with a triple and two home runs. She scored five runs and drove in a team-best 10. Junior Sydney Dirks finished the tournament with a .500 average (6-for-12) with two extra-base hits – a double and a homer – with four runs scored and drove in five. As a team, WCU finished with a .374 batting average (40-for-107), totaling 11 extra-base hits and scoring 31 runs in a 3-1 weekend.
Sophomore Amanda Fulton (6-3) was strong once again in the circle. She tossed her team-best sixth complete of the season, scattering six hits and allowing a pair of runs with six strikeouts to claim her sixth win of the season.
Fulton completes an impressive weekend in the circle for WCU, going 2-0 with a 1.87 ERA and a pair of complete games. The Woodstock, Ga. native tossed 15 innings, allowing four earned runs with a 13:1 strikeout to walk ratio and opponents batting a paltry .207 on the weekend. She currently holds the team lead with 67 seasonal strikeouts.
Penn (6-9) struck first in the second inning with a one-out solo blast over the left field fence that saw the Quakers jump out to a one-run lead. But between the home second and the end of the fourth, the two teams combined for just one baserunner as a one-out single from Waitley in the fourth broke up the string of 1-2-3 innings on both sides, though still at 1-0.
The Catamounts got going in the fifth, loading the bases with a leadoff walk from Wonsick, an HBP to Stewman, and a single by Marks. Freshman Briony Bunsic then put a charge into a deep flyball to center field that just missed clearing the fence, but was deep enough for the sacrifice fly to tie the contest at one.
Back-to-back errors from the Quakers allowed two more runs to scamper home and put two more runners aboard. Penn went to its bullpen and quickly reloaded the bases with a wild pitch and a five-pitch walk to set the stage for McPherson, who turned on a 1-0 pitch and belted it down the left field line that just snuck over the left field fence and busted the score open to an 8-1 lead for WCU.
McPherson's slam was the team's second of the season as Dirks blasted one back on February 24th against Gardner-Webb.
Penn picked up a two-out solo blast in the sixth, trying to inch closer to the Catamounts. In the home half of the frame, Bell legged out her first triple of the season, but was unable to come across in the inning.
The guests threatened in the seventh with a leadoff double and a single to put two on quickly in the frame. After a foul out to the catcher, a walk loaded the bases for Penn. However, Fulton bore down with a strikeout and a flyout to Dirks in left to help WCU secure the 3-1 weekend in its home tournament.
Kelly Zybura (2-2) suffered the defeat for the Quakers, going 4.1 innings and allowing three hits with five runs, as three of those were tagged as earned, while also adding a pair of punchouts. Ainsley Pemberton didn't record an out in relief as she allowed a hit and two walks with all three of those runners scoring. Morgan Sullivan pitched the final 1.2 scoreless innings for Penn.
WCU closes out a seven-game homestand on Tuesday, March 10, with a doubleheader against Presbyterian. First pitch is slated for 1 p.m. at the Catamount Softball Complex against the Blue Hose. Both games are slated for ESPN+ (paid subscription required), with live stats available for both games through links on CatamountSports.com.
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